The National Museum of Finland ( fi, Kansallismuseo, sv, Nationalmuseum) presents Finnish history from the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...

to the present day, through objects and cultural history. The Finnish National Romantic style building is located in central Helsinki and is a part of the

Finnish Heritage Agency The Finnish Heritage Agency ( fi, Museovirasto, sv, Museiverket), previously known in English as the National Board of Antiquities, preserves Finland's material cultural heritage: collects, studies and distributes knowledge of it. The agency is a ...

(until 2018 the National Board of Antiquities) ( fi, Museovirasto, sv, Museiverket), under the Ministry of Culture and Education.

Building

The building of the National Museum was designed by the architect company

Gesellius, Lindgren, Saarinen Gesellius, Lindgren, Saarinen was a Finnish architecture firm, founded in Helsinki in 1896 by architects Herman Gesellius, Armas Lindgren and Eliel Saarinen. They achieved international recognition with their design for the Finnish pavilion at ...

. The appearance of the building reflects Finland's

medieval churches In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

and

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

s. The architecture belongs to

national romanticism Romantic nationalism (also national romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state claims its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes ...

and the interior mainly to

art nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

. The museum was built from 1905 to 1910 and opened to the public in 1916. The museum was named the Finnish National Museum after Finland's independence in 1917. After the last thorough renovation, the Museum was re-opened in July 2000. The museum's entrance hall ceiling has ceiling frescoes in the national epic Kalevala theme, painted by Akseli Gallén-Kallela, which can be seen without an entrance fee. The frescoes, painted in 1928, are based on the frescoes painted by Gallén-Kallela in the Finnish Pavilion of the Paris World Fair in 1900.

Exhibitions

The permanent exhibitions of the National Museum are divided into parts. There are collections of coins, medals, orders and decorations, silver, jewellery and weapons. There is prehistory of Finland, the development of Finnish society and culture from the Middle Ages 12th century to the early 20th century through the Swedish Kingdom Period to the Russian Empire Era, and Finnish folk culture in the 18th and 19th centuries with life in the countryside before the

industrialisation Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...

among other exhibitions. The collections also included the Mesa Verde artifacts from the cliff dwellings of Colorado. These were donated to the museum by the

Finland Swedish Finland Swedish or Fenno-Swedish ( sv, finlandssvenska; fi, suomenruotsi) is a general term for the variety of the Swedish language and a closely related group of Swedish dialects spoken in Finland by the Swedish-speaking population, commonly a ...

explorer Gustaf Nordenskiöld. They comprised the most-extensive collection of Mesa Verde items outside the United States and one of the largest collections of native Americana outside the American continents. FitzGerald, Michael C.
"The Majesty of Mesa Verde"
in ''Wall Street Journal'', 13 March 2009, p. W12. In 2019 it was decided to return a portion of the artifacts to the representatives of the indigenous people of the United States of America, with it agreed for some 600 items to be kept and exhibited.

Gas explosion in the Silver Room

On Monday 23 January 2006 there was an

explosion An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Supersonic explosions created by high explosives are known ...

accident at the National Museum in the Silver Room, which was caused by methane leaking into a broom cupboard from the drainage through dried floor drain and lit by a spark from the power distribution cabinet in the cleaning closet. There were two possible sources for the methane; a leak from a gas pipe under the nearby Museokatu street, or gas that developed on its own in the sewer. Later, police investigations found the cause to be a gas pipe leak. Most display cases and 49 pieces out of more than 200 silver objects in the museum's Silver Room were damaged in the explosion, although most of them only mildly. Nobody was hurt. All objects were successfully repaired the same year. The Silver Room was re-opened to the public in early 2007.

Gallery

Notes

External links